Character
by volta arovet
Summary: Reki discovers the depths of an impossible character, while learning how to ask permission for something no one can know he's going to do. A .hacklegend story.


_****__Character_

by volta arovet

Takes place between Episodes 4 & 5 of .hacklegend of the twilight bracelet.

Warning: While this story contains nothing more offending than the overuse of a metaphor, it does contain spoilers for .hacktwilight. Chronologically, it takes place between episodes four and five. However! While it doesn't reveal any specifics, it does reveal a character's ultimate intentions. If you haven't reached the end of the series and wish to remain completely spoiler-free, stop reading now.

This is actually a rather old story of mine. I held off posting it until I heard the title Reki calls Balmung in the English version. His "Balmung-san"s just didn't suit my English-speaking mind. If you've read this story a long time ago, this is why it sounds familiar, even though it is relatively new here.

.hacktwilight, its characters, and The World belong to Bandai and its various creators.

**_Character_**  
_by volta arovet_

Balmung smiled as he looked up to the azure sky. One could almost believe he could feel a programmed wind brush through his periwinkle hair, or a pixelated sunbeam kiss his forehead, directly above where his VR visor pressed against his face.

A flash of gold and he was no longer alone. "Sorry I'm late, Lord Balmung," Reki apologized. "There was a last-minute emergency. You understand."

Balmung understood. The number of incidents was increasing. "Of course. Why did you call me here, Reki?"

Reki's friendly green eyes narrowed for a moment, and his lips twisted into a strange smirk. "For quite some time, it seems as if I've always been at your beck and call. I wanted to see if the reverse is also true."

Balmung frowned. "Reki—"

He laughed. "Joking, joking. Actually, I wanted your opinion on this playing field. It's still a work in progress, of course, but the general feel is there. What do you say? Want to explore a little, solve some puzzles, stop to smell the roses, so to speak? It beats filing incident reports."

"It sounds like a fine idea." Balmung walked over to a little cluster of white flowers and inhaled deeply.

His companion coughed politely. "Um, Lord Balmung? #1: I was being metaphoric, #2: those are daisies, and #3: you can't smell them, anyway."

Balmung smiled beatifically. "Even artificial flowers can smell sweet if you truly believe them to."

Reki closed his eyes to prevent himself from rolling them. "Right, right. That's a little too metaphysical to work for me, Lord Balmung."

They walked together from the gateway to a path which led between two tall plateaus. Reki made a sweeping motion with his hand. "After you, Lord Balmung. An adventure to rival any hacked monster awaits you." Balmung hesitated, momentarily frozen by the words. Reki encouraged him. "Don't worry, don't worry, I was just being dramatic. There aren't any monsters to jump out at you, and all random encounters have been disabled. This section is protected from outside influence, so I don't expect to encounter any hacked monsters. It's perfectly safe."

Reki was right—no dangers awaited them when they crossed through the entrance. A ripple of movement caught Balmung's eye, and he spun around to see that the entranceway had been replaced with another path, one which forked between through new plateaus. "A maze?" Balmung asked.

Reki nodded his head. "Not a usual one, though. I designed this one so it had a few tricks to it. Besides, I thought that a nice, open-top maze would be much less claustrophobic than the typical cramped dungeon."

"You designed all this?" Balmung took in the scenery with greater appreciation in his eyes.

A proud nod of blond hair was his answer. "The best way to learn how to fix errors in a field is to know how a field really works, and the best way to learn that is to design one yourself."

Balmung's face fell a little. "So this was just an exercise? It wasn't an act of love for The World?"

Reki waved off his concern, though he smirked a little. Only Balmung could pull off a phrase like 'act of love.' "Believe me, I love The World in my own way. I simply prefer to keep it running smoothly, rather than create new parts of it myself. I'm just not that imaginative."

Balmung looked at the scenery around them. The walls of the mesas were adorned in lazy, sloping patterns of burgundy, burnt umber, and sienna. Small rock hangings jutted out from the walls at various intervals, each decorated with a graceful array of white roses and hanging moss. Under his feet, the sand was made of tiny bits of amber, and above his head a large white bird glided elegantly, tipping a wing up as it curved down the left path. "How can you say you have no imagination?" Balmung asked, waving a hand to indicate their surroundings.

"Because I was not the one who inspired this," Reki explained. "I simply thought about the one I know who truly enjoys The World, and designed this level for him. There are mental and physical tests, impressive vistas, platforms perfect for jumping, a constant breeze which is excellent for keeping one's cape rustling dramatically..." Reki trailed off, looking to see if Balmung could tell where he was going with this.

The other man looked at him patiently.

"Azure skies," Reki added pointedly, and smiled as a small light went on behind Balmung's eyes. "Honestly, Lord Balmung, I'm almost insulted you didn't go jumping up the walls the moment we got here."

Expressions warred on Balmung's face. He was slightly insulted that Reki might be implying he was that childish. He was also feeling slightly impatient because, now that Reki mentioned it, those platforms did look rather inviting. He was also trying to curb both reactions, because they betrayed his usual sophisticated appearance.

Reki hid his grin in a sleeve. "Don't restrain yourself on my account."

That was all the encouragement Balmung needed. If not for the soft rustle of wind through weighted fabric, Reki would have assumed that his companion had simply disappeared. He raised his eyes and watched as Balmung leaped up, up, up, touching on each overhang just long enough to spring off of it again.

Briefly, Reki was reminded of a cricket which had somehow been trapped inside his apartment long ago. His cat had chased after it, but the wily cricket always managed to jump away at the last moment. How many years ago was it? At least twenty, he realized, because he distinctly remembered that the cat had been Po, a particularly scruffy-looking tabby he had loved dearly. Despite that, Reki (who had not technically been 'Reki' then) had found himself rooting for the cricket. It had a rare mastery of the three dimensions, never forgetting that if there were no paths on the ground, there might be one through the air. It had reached the window sill and found that it had nowhere else to go. The very moment when the cricket thought its capture was imminent was the moment Reki reached over and casually opened the window.

Balmung had reached the top of the mesa. His wing-like cape spread out elegantly behind him. Reki paused for a moment, admiring the excellent job he had done on the wind algorithm, then transferred himself to Balmung's side. Balmung didn't acknowledge the smaller man's presence. He just stared at the object in front of them.

"Lord Balmung?"

"Reki...." Balmung sighed. "Are you making fun of me?"

"Why would you ask that?" Reki was all sunshine and innocence.

"The windmill."

Even though Balmung couldn't see his face—Reki was standing a step-and-a-half behind him, as always—he kept his usual cheerfully-impassive expression. "It seems to be doing its job. The breeze it creates is just right, wouldn't you say?"

"You implied that you created this level with me in mind. You know I enjoy literary references. What conclusion should I draw?" Balmung seemed almost lost.

"Sometimes a windmill is just a windmill." Balmung glanced over his shoulder and frowned; Reki placidly entertained himself by inspecting his fingernails—an odd action when one realizes that his hands are gloved. "You broke character, you know."

"What?"

"A few minutes ago, when we first entered this field. You hesitated at the entrance. Balmung of the Azure Sky would never hesitate, even if he suspected grave danger at the next turn. He would always be prepared to battle injustice wherever it occurred...that's the legend, right? And yet...you hesitated." Reki's gaze remained fixed on his right glove.

"These are dangerous times," Balmung said, staring at a spot above Reki's head. "Caution is called for."

"But 'caution' isn't part of the legend, Lord Balmung. 'Bravery' and 'strength' and perhaps 'a love of cheap puns,' but never 'hesitation.' It just isn't in your character. Although..." Reki trailed off. He looked away from his hand and grinned winningly at Balmung, whose eyes were still focused on the distance. "I once read an interesting quote. Would you like to hear it?"

Balmung didn't answer, but his gaze shifted downward until he was looking at Reki. Reki took this as assent.

" 'When a fictional character acts in an unexpected way, it is called 'out of character.' When a real person acts in an unexpected way, it is called 'depth.''" Reki cocked his head. "So I suppose what I am asking is: how real are you, Lord Balmung?"

"What do you mean?" Balmung finally turned completely around so he could face Reki, but the confusing man was already preoccupied with inspecting the (also not visible) nails on his left hand.

"I mean, what would it take for you to not be 'Balmung' anymore? If you were relieved of your administrative position, would you...no. No, you were Balmung before you were an administrator. Isn't that right, Lord Balmung? But what if you lost your character data, and had to start again from level one? Would you still be Balmung then?"

"As long as The World exists," Balmung replied softly. His calm expression was betrayed by the quavering note in his voice when he continued speaking. "Why are you asking these questions?"

Reki grinned at him again--a cheerful, disarming smile. Its effectiveness was dramatically decreasing the longer he continued speaking. "I'm simply curious as to where the limits of your character lie. Hypothetically speaking, what if Twilight truly does occur? Would you, as Lord Balmung, disappear along with The World?"

At this, Balmung straightened up, and the confident look reappeared on his face. At the very least, he understood this question. "I know that I would. If Twilight conquers The World, it will not be through lack of effort on my part. If The World ends, I will end with it. Nothing short of that will stop me, and my efforts will stop no shorter than that."

At last, the spell which had caused Reki to act strangely had been broken. He clapped his hands enthusiastically. "An excellent answer, Lord Balmung. Much better than anything I would have come up with." He laughed. "It's just as well. I had the strangest mental image of you in the real world, wearing glasses and a cape made out of twin white bedsheets, tilting at windmills with a cardboard sword."

Balmung frowned again, but it was in a more friendly, teasing way. If Reki hadn't known that it was beneath Balmung's honor, he would have sworn that the knight was pouting. "I thought you said that 'a windmill is just a windmill.'" The knight blinked. "How do you know that I wear glasses?"

"I said that sometimes a windmill is just a windmill, and I know you wear glasses because Kamui-san showed me a picture of you the other day." He winked. "Meeting your coworkers in real life is one of the benefits of working in the main office."

Balmung pondered this new information and came up with four troubling thoughts: 1. Reki knew what he really looked like. 2. Reki and Kamui were talking in real life. 3. Kamui carried a picture of Balmung. And 4. The preceding three thoughts made Balmung somewhat nervous. "It's hard to understand you sometimes, Reki."

Reki bowed his head in admission. "I'm not that good at role play, so I decided to make ambiguity and inconsistency two of my character traits. That way, even if I'm in an odd mood, I'm not out of character, you see?" He tucked his book securely under one arm, then sharply clapped his hands together. "Now that that's over, how about we get back to the problem at hand?"

"Which is?"

Reki motioned around them. "Where do we go from here? You've already missed your first clue."

Balmung thought for a moment. "The bird."

"That's right."

"Should we wait for another one?"

Reki smirked. "We'd be waiting a long time. And before you waste an orb, it's unmappable."

"Hm," Balmung hummed, and pursed his lips. He looked warily at the windmill, glanced at Reki, and looked back at the windmill. "I'll admit, it doesn't seem quite right to do this." With that, he raised his weapon and, shouting fearsomely, charged at the windmill.

He stopped his sword mid-swing, an odd expression on his face.

"A true knight doesn't attack. He…tilts," Balmung mused, sheathing his sword. He braced his feet on the ground and gave the windmill a mighty heave. The windmill tipped precariously, on the edge of falling, then twisted in midair. A giant's snarling face appeared where the peak of the windmill had been, and a gigantic fist smashed down, obliterating everything on the path where Balmung stood.

Or, rather, the path where Balmung had previously stood; Balmung, being Balmung, had neatly dodged the blow.

"Excellent call, Lord Balmung!" Reki cheered from the sidelines.

Balmung grinned maniacally as he parried the giant's blows. "I always believed that every level could be improved with a good play on words."

After a few swings of Balmung's sword, the giant still had not been defeated.

Balmung called over his shoulder. "Aren't you going to help?"

The giant, seemingly reminded of Reki's presence by Balmung's words, shifted its attention to the operator. "Why, when it's much more fun to watch you fight? Oh!" The self-satisfied tone turned into a squeak when the giant's first crashed down onto Reki's hastily-erected barrier.

"This monster's stronger than most players can handle," Balmung huffed, still actively attacking the creature.

"Not really. He's automatically one level below the highest level person in the party," Reki explained from behind his glowing shield. "That's part of the challenge."

A few swings of the sword later, the giant fell. Balmung gazed at it for a moment. He spoke, voice so soft it could barely be heard. "You know, Reki..." He paused. "Sometimes, I think that it's only in The World... that a—"

The giant's body burst into brilliant blue flames, and from their ashes rose an elegant white bird. It gave a piercing cry, then flew swiftly away, tipping its wings so it once again traveled down the left path.

Balmung turned to chase after it, paused for a moment, and glanced back over his shoulder at Reki. "You should know...you have your facts wrong. Windmills don't cause wind."

Reki smiled mysteriously. "Don't they?"

The knight looked perplexed for a moment, shrugged, and went chasing after the legendary white bird.

With the windmill gone, the air was dead. Reki stood on the bare plateau and watched Balmung chase after the white bird. "I suppose that conversation was as close to permission as I will get from you," he spoke to the place Balmung had been. "If only you had my talents for abusing authority…but, I suppose, if you did you wouldn't be Balmung. Oh well. I don't mind getting my hands dirty. I only hope I can gain your forgiveness, once this is over." He wanted to scream. He wanted to yell at Balmung, tell him that it was only a game, it wasn't real, it wasn't worth risking his life.

Instead, he raised a hand and warped to the next critical point in the game. He could have run after Balmung, but it didn't feel right to move so swiftly through the air yet never feel the wind brushing against one's face.


End file.
